Taken By The Wind Ch. 02

This is the second installment of 'Taken by The Wind'. If you haven't already, I recommend reading the second chapter before reading this one.

Just a word of warning, although this chapter has been categorized as 'Lesbian Sex' it could have been categorized as Erotic Couplings as such content is featured (though fairly minimally).

I'd like to thank everyone who rated and commented on the previous chapter, I really appreciate all the feedback. Now, I hope you all enjoy.

-Max

***

Chapter 2:

Karen awoke the following morning still on top of Rob, at first confused about who she was with. A rush of fear went through her when she realised what she'd done. Karen pulled away, climbing out of the bed, her bare feet chilled by the hardwood floor beneath them. A shiver of worry went up her spine and a lump of ice formed in her stomach. This shouldn't have happened, not with him, not with Rob. He was nice; he didn't deserve to be used.

You were both drunk, she told herself, he was lonely and you were lonely. You shared one night, that's all it was, that's all it has to be. But that wasn't what she wanted. At least she didn't think that's what she wanted. She felt cheap, she felt like she'd lived up to the negative stereotype of the girls from her neighborhood. But it'd just happened, he'd been there, he was so nice, he was so attractive, and she'd wanted him so much. Karen pulled her sweatpants and tank top back on hurriedly and left the room, retreating to the bathroom.

She sat on the toilet seat, burying her face in her hands. Her head was pounding and she realised she'd gotten more drunk than she'd thought the night before. Karen had used him, she'd been mad at Adam for cheating on her, and had found a hotter guy to be with. She couldn't date Rob. He deserved someone way better than herself, someone he could actually relate with. She was a mess right now; he didn't deserve to deal with that.

What were you thinking? Karen asked herself. She wasn't even technically broken up with Adam yet. She'd said the words but he still didn't believe him, and neither did she, not really, not in her heart. Karen had 'broken up' with him before, only to get back with him a few weeks later. She loved Adam, he hurt her sometimes, but she hurt him too. Now she was going to hurt Rob as well, and she felt like shit for doing it. Karen sighed; she needed to talk to Courtney. She needed to get rid of Rob, and figure out what everything meant.

Karen went downstairs and fired up the stove, turning on the radio. The storm had stopped, and the plows were starting to clear the roads. Music played as she cooked breakfast for the two of them, hardly hearing it as she got lost in her thoughts. She'd been with Adam off and on since eleventh grade, some of the break ups had been his fault and others hers. They fought a lot, but when times were good they were really, really good. She loved him all through it, in spite of her parent's disapproval of how he treated her at times. Only someone she really loved could hurt her like Adam did.

Then there was Rob, an obviously nice guy who seemed to really like her. But how nice was he really? In Karen's experience nice guys were only that way because they wanted something. She'd given Rob that last night, who was to say he wouldn't be bored of her now and just move on? That didn't seem like Rob though, he was a sticker. He and Jenna had been together for years. And there was the fact that Adam had apparently cheated on her, she couldn't imagine Rob doing that.

She didn't know him though, not really. She knew Adam, she knew what to expect, good times and bad times. There were so many unknowns with Rob. What had he really been like with Jenna? Had he been as good a boyfriend as Karen thought he'd been? She hadn't hung out with their crowd, maybe the relationship the two of them had shared was the same kind as the one she shared with Adam. Was she trading the evil she knew for the one she didn't?

A hand brushed against her shoulder, making her cry out in fright.

Rob laughed. "Sorry. I thought you heard me," he said.

He left his hand on her shoulder and ran it down her arm. Karen stood still, her muscles tense and her heart beating fast. His hand came around to her front and pressed against her stomach. His lips pressed against her cheek from behind her, and she felt him going lower to kiss her exposed neck. Karen pulled away and turned around to face him. It pained Karen to see the look of confusion on Rob's face, and she hated herself for being so cruel to him.

She wished it was easy. That she could just let him be affectionate, let him turn her around and kiss her. To laugh with him, to feel good with him. The more she wanted these things the worse she felt, she'd done a terrible, thoughtless thing to someone she genuinely liked. Rob became still behind her, seeing the distress in her facial expression.

"I..." he began.

"I need to get those eggs off the stove," she said quickly, interrupting him.

Rob looked as though he was about to argue, but chose against it and sat down. Karen hurried to finish up the scrambled eggs, sitting down with him to eat once they were finished. They remained silent for a while, simply eating. Rob realised that Karen had gone a lot further than she'd meant to the previous night and he regretted giving into what he'd wanted so easily. She was going through a break up, she was a mess. He should have respected that and stayed away.

"Listen," Karen said after picking apathetically at her food until it'd grown cold, "I don't want you to think last night meant more than it did," every word came out difficultly, but she had to do this. "I wanted what happened just like you did, and maybe we went a little too far. I really do like you, and maybe if things were different we could..." Karen trailed off, that wasn't relevant to what she wanted to say. "I just don't think I'm ready to be with someone else right now. I'm still going through this thing with Adam, and I'm really not in a state to be entering a new relationship. I'm sorry."

Rob was quiet for a moment, observing her with unreadable eyes. "Are you getting back with him then?" he asked.

Karen sighed. "I don't know, I don't think so. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. I'm just really messed up right now. I don't know what to think."

Rob nodded. "Alright," he said.

He had lots of questions, he wanted to argue, but decided that would just make this worse for her than he'd already made it. He felt bad enough already for putting her in this position, for giving in when he so clearly shouldn't have. He'd let his lust get ahead of his mind, he'd allowed his loneliness trump his morals. His grandfather would have been ashamed of him.

"I still, you know, want to hang out and whatever," Karen said. "I mean, if you don't think it'll be too weird."

"No, I'd like that too," he said.

A flood of relief went through Karen. "Thanks," she replied gratefully.

There were many dimensions to that word, many nuances to that expression of gratitude. Both heard them, and both understood them. He was making it easy for her. By not demanding answers to questions that she couldn't give, by remaining calm, by being nice. Part of Karen was grateful for it, another part felt even worse. She felt cowardly, but she also felt slightly angry. What for she wasn't sure, but something about Rob's response made her mad. Was it towards him? Herself? Adam? Just in general? Karen wasn't sure, and she didn't have time to figure it out.

Rob nodded, "I guess I should get dressed and head out."

Rob hadn't dressed beyond his boxers, thinking that he and Karen were going to resume their activities from the previous night. He stood and turned, and Karen noticed for the first time that he had a tattoo on his back. He went to the stairs and back up to her bedroom before she got a good look, but the mere fact that he had one surprised her. She didn't really think about it, she had more pressing matters to fret over.

Deciding she didn't have the appetite to eat she cleared away the dirty dishes, scraping her mostly uneaten eggs into the garbage. Rob returned as she was loading the dishwasher, fully dressed. His head was pounding with a headache, that along with the rejection he'd just received were making for a rather unpleasant morning. At least breakfast was good, he thought to himself. Karen straightened up and looked at him standing by the front door awkwardly, his coat and boots on.

"I guess I should go," he said.

"The roads should be clear," she said, "I heard the plow go by."

He nodded. "Thanks for... everything."

That awkward little exchange told them both that returning to just being friends wasn't going to be easy. He still felt fondness towards her. He saw a frightened and confused girl that he'd taken advantage of. She saw herself as a girl who had led a nice guy along and then cast him out into the cold. They were both mad with themselves, for not being better, for not being more, for failing not just themselves but the other.

"Well uh, goodbye," Rob said to Karen.

"Yeah, bye," she said.

He hesitated for a moment, his hand on the doorknob, looking at her with unreadable eyes. Karen looked at him expectantly, willing him to say something more, something that would make this right. Rob couldn't think of anything. It only lasted a half breath, a slight moment of uncertainty, a moment of indecision. His eyes turned away from Karen's, his hand tightened around the doorknob, and he turned it.

Rob opened the door and a blast of cold air consumed Karen before he closed it behind him. She leaned back against the counter, her eyes burning. Karen rubbed at them irritably, not wanting to cry. She heard Rob's truck start, and heard his truck fighting to get out of the driveway. She watched him retrieve a shovel from the back of his truck and clear enough snow to get out. After some spinning of his tires he got free and she watched through the window as he disappeared. A sob escaped her, and tears began to stream down her cheeks.

She felt so stupid; Rob wanted to be with her, and from what she knew Adam had cheated on her. It should have been an easy decision, why was she so hopelessly stupid? But it wasn't easy. With Adam it was never easy; with him nothing was ever simple. She was drawn to him for reasons she didn't understand. Rob had been a distraction, a pleasant fantasy that had become real in the worst way possible. Now she'd hurt him, she'd hurt herself, and she'd damaged their growing friendship. Familiar self-hatred filled her.

Karen left the kitchen, tears still blurring her vision, and walked upstairs to her bedroom. She ripped the sheets from her bed and threw them into the washer downstairs. Then she returned to her bedroom and picked up her cellphone. Sobs wracking her body, she dialed her friend Courtney's number. Pick up, Pick up she pleaded in her head as she listened to the dial tone. The sleepy voice of her friend came on the line.

"I have an incredibly sexy pair of Swedish men here ready to ravish me, so this had better be important," Courtney said.

"I'm sorry," Karen sobbed into the phone. "I'll call back later."

"Oh God, Karen. I'm sorry," Courtney said, the tiredness leaving her voice. "There's no one here. I was just joking. What happened?" she asked, her tone softening immediately.

Karen gave her friend a teary and incomplete version of the events of the previous day while Courtney consoled her as best she could over the phone. They talked for a long time, Courtney working out more of the story from Karen over the hour, sympathizing and advising as best she could. Karen didn't tell her about everything that had happened with Rob, stopping at the point where he had driven her to her house and not giving her his name.

Courtney got that Karen was withholding information. Normally she didn't call her balling like this over a fight with Adam, and a broken down vehicle wouldn't be enough to put her into this state. They'd been best friends since middle school, and had been through a great deal together, Courtney knew when something was bothering her friend. It must have been something bad if she wasn't telling her. She also knew better than to press Karen for information, she'd just shut her out if she tried that. Instead she listened, and spoke soothingly into the phone to her.

"Listen," Courtney said eventually. "I have to go to work. How about I stop by after and we can talk some more okay?"

Karen breathed deeply, feeling exhausted.

"Alright," she said.

"It'll be okay Dubs," she said using her nickname for her friend. "Just don't talk to Adam, okay?"

"Okay," Karen said.

"Love you," Courtney said.

"Love you too," she replied.

***

"Fuck you!"

The exclamation rang out through the store, causing heads to turn.

"Courtney, calm..." Ben began.

"I quit!" Courtney shouted as she stormed from out of her manager's office.

She barrelled into the staff room. "I don't need this shit," she muttered to herself as she collected her belongings.

Courtney tore her uniform over her head as if it were on fire, throwing it on the table angrily. Her now former co-worker Al chose that moment to walk in, finding her in just her bra from the waist up. Her impressive bust was heaving as she stalked angrily in the small break room like a caged animal, the ornate pattern tattooed up along her flank visible. His eyes widened as Courtney turned and glared at him.

"Take a picture," she snapped at him.

The older gentlemen looked away frightfully, and Courtney dug into her gym bag, finding a t-shirt. Impolite to customers, she thought to herself angrily, people fucking love me. She pulled the t-shirt over her head, drawing her long brown hair out from the hole for her head and fussing with it until it was smooth. Al turned back, watching the furious brunette as she ripped her punch card out of her pocket and threw it on the table with her shirt.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Ben told me I was being rude to a customer," Courtney replied angrily. "It was a joke! I know her! She comes in all the time and asks for me specifically because she likes me!"

She slid her feet out of her black flats and into her tall boots.

"You mean Mrs. Giordano?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said as she pulled her coat on.

"I can go talk to Ben..." he began.

Courtney made a sound. "Fuck that. I'm done here, thanks though. You're not so bad for an old guy," she said.

Al grinned sheepishly, "Thank you."

She hugged him briefly as an apology for snapping at him before and as a goodbye. Courtney looped the strap of her gym bag over her shoulder and left the break room. She walked through the aisles of the drug store, intentionally avoiding the cosmetics department because she might run into a customer she knew and with her state of mind she might say something she'd regret. She passed the cash at the front, waving goodbye to the cashier Alice as she went.

"Courtney to Cosmetics, Courtney to Cosmetics," came the omnipresent voice of her co-worker over the PA system, interrupting the mind-numbing music that was piped into the store.

They'd be waiting a long time for her to respond to that call. Courtney went through the sliding doors and out into the parking lot. She got to her car, threw her bag into the back, and sat heavily in the driver's seat. A string of violent profanity left her mouth and she beat her hands against the steering wheel. She'd needed that job, she'd made commission and she'd been really good at getting sales. The day before Christmas Eve, the biggest shopping day of the year, and she wasn't going to be cashing in.

"Fuck him," she muttered to herself as she fired up her cars engine.

Blaring music came on, and she fastened her seatbelt. She opened her glove box and grabbed her sunglasses, putting them on before shifting into drive and tearing out of her parking space. Her tires kicked up snow and slush as she accelerated, heading towards the road. Courtney decided to head straight for Karen's house, and turned left rather than right like she usually would have.

A few brave lane changes, and more than a few angry horns blared at her later, Courtney got into the lane she wanted and tore down Second Avenue, one of the busiest streets in the North Side. She belted her lungs out to the car radio, she found singing to Alice Cooper's Go to Hell to be very cathartic. It didn't showcase her voice very well, but the lyrics were familiar and extra passion she added to each 'you can go to hell' had her feeling better. When she got to the side roads leading to Karen's house her car started having trouble, they hadn't been plowed like the main arteries yet.

She struggled to Karen's house and found that the paved driveway had been shoveled. Courtney pulled in and parked, turning the key and the torrent of sound disappeared instantaneously. Karen was inside, sweaty from shoveling the driveway but glad for the physical exertion and the distraction the chore had provided. She had just stripped down and stepped under the showerhead, washing the sweat from her body and letting the jet of water work the tension out of her muscles.

Karen turned her head upward, opening her mouth and letting it fill with water before pursing her full lips and expelling it in a steady stream. She turned away from the jet, the water impacting her back and running down along the curves of her body to the swell of her ass. It sluiced over her round buttocks in thin streams, clinging to the backs of her thighs as it trailed down along the backs of her knees and calves before at last going over her feet and down the drain.

Although she'd slept well she felt exhausted, her head hurt terribly, but the ibuprofen she'd taken a few minutes earlier downstairs was beginning to help with that. Karen combed her fingers through her sodden hair, gathering it over her shoulders before grabbing for her shampoo. She squeezed out a glob and rubbed it into her hair, building up a good lather before rinsing her long dark locks before repeating the process with her conditioner.

She massaged her scalp gently, luxuriating in the heat of the water. Karen had made it hot, turning her skin pink and filling the bathroom with steam. She rinsed the conditioner out and then grabbed her luffa sponge. She squeezed a dollop of her body wash into it and began to clean her flushed form. Karen allowed herself to become lost in her cleaning ritual, forgetting Adam and Rob, pushing back memories of the previous night and the confusing thoughts they brought forth.

Karen pulled the shower head out from its bracket on the wall and rinsed herself off, the suds running down her perky breasts and down her flat stomach. She lifted her leg, resting her foot on the side of the tub as she lathered the toned limb, a sudden flashback to Rob massaging her calf making her bite her lip nervously. She soldiered on, ignoring the memories that the alcohol had unfortunately left undamaged.

Eventually she gave in, she was horny and she was in the shower. A private and safe place, the first place where she'd explored her body as it'd developed. Karen sat down in the tub, laying back and spreading her legs. She brought the showerhead between her thighs and let the jet spray her pussy. She brought her free hand down, circling her clit as the torrent of water massaged her tender labia. Her head tilted back, the back pressing against the cold tile behind her.